I had the opportunity to try out South Padre Island's newest dining establishment this week, on their first day of business! J. Micheal and Cathy Laferty have just opened the delightful PadreRitaVille at 4001 Padre Blvd. I'll visit again after they are fully "in swing" but I wanted to put the word out about this new place to grab a bite on the island. You can follow them on Facebook too!The ambiance is Texas tropical (of course) with a parrot-head nod... nice variety of lighting ranging from colored drop lights to multi-colored string lights and an eclectic mix of candles and table-top tiki lights. It is a cool and restful retreat from the glaring sun in the middle of a hot day. Palapa umbrellas top the roomy tables and it just has a good vibe. Cathy is highly visible as she checks to make sure everyone is enjoying their visit and that the food is good; the wait staff is extremely attentive as well.
Our table tried out appetizers primarily. Starting with an order of the bottomless mild fresh salsa and freshly made tortilla chips we had a hard time deciding what we wanted (and so, of course, we ordered more than we could eat). We sampled good, crispy fried calamari, a Mexican Shrimp Cocktail with generous amounts of shrimp and fresh avocado (thank you - finally fresh avocado), and a GINORMOUS and delicious pile of supreme chicken nachos. We all commented that the refried beans on the nachos were unusually enticing (I mean, who notices the beans usually?). Four people munching steadily could not make a dent in the nachos! The margaritas were deemed "two thumbs up" by my son and his friends, and I enjoyed a good glass of iced tea in a beautiful Mexican-style heavy glass with blue rim...and a curvy straw for comfortable sipping. The dishes and glassware were of the quality I would use in my home...another plus! I sampled a nibble of another person's all-you-can-eat fried fish and shrimp. It was good and crisp and the tartar sauce was just right as well. Word of mouth is that they will try to do everything "fresh" - avoidance of frozen products and Sysco main dishes; not the usual restaurant fare to be found on the island. Hooray!
The prices were very reasonable and the atmosphere friendly and coastal...I'll definitely be back to sample the dinner menu as well. I didn't get a chance to see their patio nor snap a photo of their sign...because I was in such a food and bonhomie-induced soporific haze...all I could think was "nap"...so I just forgot! I'll be back, though, you can count on that!
(photo source sandyfeet's photos)
SPI FLIP FLOP FOODIE RATING:
4 – Lip smackin’ - good quality – flip flops will definitely be parked under their table again!
The newly-anointed (4square) mayor of Padreritaville concurs.
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Thank you so much! We're adding new items everyday or so to bring the menu up to where we want it to be, so new offerings are available since your visit. We really are committed to the freshly prepaired offerings, and so far the comments have been overwhelmingly positive! But in the spirit of full diclosure...we are struggling with our homemade, handcut french fries; the taste is there to be sure, but they're limp! We are pulling our hair out trying to figure out what the heck we're doing wrong on what should be a most simplistic offering! I suspect that like a true islander...my fries just wanna relax ;) Thanks again. micheal
ReplyDeleteThere was a discussion at our table the day we were there regarding the need for a different descriptor - you weren't liking the word "limp"....so let's just go with relaxed! I'm sure you'll get them figured out and I'm looking forward to stopping in again soon!
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